Outdated But Profitable PACER System Finances Court Updates

PACER, the federal court’s system for making public documents accessible is unconstitutional according to some critics, because it costs money to use. It also costs money to run, and some argue that justifies charging people to access it, but at 10 cents per page it appears to be quite profitable, and instead of using those profits to modernize the system, the plaintiffs in a recently filed class action allege that they are used to finance new courtroom audio systems and flat screen TVs for jurors, among other things. Meanwhile PACER remains unwieldy and archaic.